Magazine cabinet



Jan. 27, 19 59 c. c. GARDNER 2,871,084

MAGAZINE CABINET Filedlarch 24, 1955 Clair C Gardner:

Unite States MAGAZINE CABIN ET -Clair CeGardner, Rockford, Ill.

Application March 24, 1955, Serial No. 496,464

6 Claims. '(Cl. 312-410) which are normally concealed when the doors are closed are raised when the doors are opened, so as to bring the magazines out into full view for handiness and convenience in the selection of one or more to vbe used, and, of course, also make it just as convenient in the replace- .ment of the magazines later, the containers serving to keep the magazines in good clean condition as well as out of sight when they are not in use.

A salient feature of the present cabinet is the provision in connection with the slidable container of a flexible cord, cable, wire, or even chain on each side of the container attached to the lower portion thereof and extending upwardly over a pulley on the back of the door and into the cabinet over another pulleygand downwardly through an eye for connection therebeneath with the upper end of a tension spring suitably secured at its lower end in the cabinet, the arrangement being such that the door canbe opened a predetermined amountv before the upper end of the spring comes into engagement with the eye, whereupon the cable is held against further movement and exerts a positive pull upwardly on the container to raise it as the door is opened farther, whereby to bring the magazines out into full View. This construction simplifies quantity production of the magazine cabinetsbecause it is not necessary to work to such close tolerances as with many other automatic mechanisms in order to obtain the desired sliding movement of the container in timed relation to the swinging movement of the door.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a magazine cabinet embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation showing one .of the doors opened with the container raised, ,a portion of the side wall of the cabinet being broken away to better disclose the spring and the cooperating eye and cable;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the door closed and the container lowered, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 5 designates a base resting on the floor on the top of which the cabinet or housing 6 is suitably swivelled to turn on a vertical axis and thus locate any one of the four doors -7 adjacent the chair in which the operator may atent O be sitting, all 'of the doors being equipped with hinges 8 at their lower ends and handles or pulls '9 at their upper ends to permit swinging the doors outwardly asthe door is shown in Fig. 2. The base 5 may or may not be equipped with a lamp standard, like that shown at 10, swivelled in a socket 11 to turn to Whatever position is desired, the standard 1t) having a suitable electric light fixture 12 provided on the upper end thereof and being of tubular construction so that the extension cord 13 may be extended upwardly through it to the fixture.

Each of the doors 7 has a pair of spaced parallel guides 14 secured to the inner side thereof, as indicated at 15,

between which is slidably guided an open-ended rectangular box-like container or receptacle 16 for magazine 17 or the like, the container being closed at the bottom and open at the top and of a depth to accommodate the largest size magazines, leaving enough of the upper end of each magazine projecting to make it easy to identify the different magazines when the container is raised, as in Fig. 2. For smaller 'size magazines, a filler block (not shown) may .be placed in the bottom of the container, leaving enough depth above it to accommodate the smaller magazines with their upper ends projecting in the same Way as the larger ones illustrated in Fig. 2. Attached to the lower end portion of each container 16 on both sides thereof is a cord, cable, wire, or other flexible element 18 extending upwardly over a pulley 19 mounted on a bracket 20 secured to the inner side of the door 7, the cable then extending into the cabinet where it passes over another .pulley 21 suitably mounted in said cabinet on the adjacent side wall thereof, and extends downwardly through an eye or other guide 22 carried'on the cabinet on the inner side'of'the same side Wall and is attached, as indicated at 23, to the upper end of a coiled tension spring 24 whose lower end is anchored to the cabinet on the inner side of the same side Wall, as indicated at 25.

In operation, the springs 24 are preloaded "tokeep the cables 18 under a predetermined light tension when the door 7 is closed, as appears in Fig. 3. These springs also assist in the closing of the door and hold it closed, the weight of the container 16 plus that of one or more magazines 1'7 placed in it also acting in the same direction With respect to hinges '8 tending to hold the door closed. When the door is pulled open the cables 18 in the first portion of the movement stretch the springs 24- until they engage the eyes 22, and during this portion of the movement the container 16 remains down at the level shown in Fig. 3. Consequently, there is no problem of providing working clearance for the upper ends of the magazines 17 with respect to the top 26 of the cabinet. The container 16 is raised positively in the further opening movement by a pull upward on both cables18 after the eyes 22 serve to hold the far ends of the cables by abutment with the upper ends of springs 24. One can easily read the titles on the upper ends of the different magazines when the container 16 is raised as shown in Fig. 2. In this position, it is also easy to remove and replace magazines. If the open door is released itcloses by -itselfunder the action -of-springs 24 and the gravitation of the container 16, and if the door fits closely enough the air cushion action is enough to cushion the shock. With the door closed, the magazines are completely concealed and are protected from dust and dirt. The cabinet 6 can be turned readily to bring any one of the four doors 7 into position adjacent the chair where the operator may be sitting. It will be obvious that one of the doors 7 may be hinged at one side edge on a vertical axis opening into a storage compartment in the cabinet, similarly as disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 473,235, filed December 6, 1954.

J The flat top 26 of the cabinet is left clear for placing any articles thereon.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claimsrhave been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. In a cabinet of the character described, a housing having an opening, a door hinged at its lower end on said housing to close said opening, an open top receptacle slidably mounted on the inner side of said door for up and down movement, and a flexible element to raise and lower said receptacle secured at one end to a portion of said receptacle and extending upwardly over a guide on the inner side of the door, said element extending inwardly from said guide over another guide in the housing and downwardly through a guide fixed in the housing, and said element being connected below said last named guide with the upper end of a tension spring, which is large in diameter in relation to said last named guide, the lower end of said spring being secured in said housing, said spring being stretched a predetermined extent so as to keep said flexible element under tension when the door is closed, said spring being stretchable a predetermined distance in the first portion of opening movement of said door before being stopped by engagement with said last named guide, whereby to postpone the commencement of the positive raising of the receptacle with door opening movement until the door reaches a certain angularity relative to the housing.

2. In a cabinet of the character described, a housing having an opening, a door hinged at its lower end on said housing to close said opening, an open top receptacle slidably mounted on the inner side of said door for up and down movement, and a flexible element to raise and lower said receptacle secured at one end to a portion of said receptacle and extending upwardly over a guide on the inner side of the door, said element extending inwardly from said guide and through a guide fixed in the housing, said element being connected beyond said last named guide to one end of a tension spring which is large in diameter in relation to said last named guide, the other end of said spring being secured in said housing, said spring being stretched a predetermined distance in the first portion of opening movement of said door before being stopped by engagement with said last named guide, whereby to postpone the commencement of the positive raising of the receptacle with door opening movement until the door reaches a certain angularity relative to the housing.

3. In a cabinet of the character described, a housing having an opening, a door hinged at its lower end on said housing to close said opening, an open top receptacle slidably mounted on the inner side of said door for up and down movement, a flexible element to raise and lower said receptacle secured at one end to a portion of said receptacle and extending upwardly over a guide on the inner side of the door, said element extending inwardly from said guide into the housing, means in said housing connected with said element to maintain the said element under tension while allowing a predetermined movement of said element with the door in opening and closing, and other means in said housing which, after a predetermined movement of the door, holds said element against movement whereby positively to raise the receptacle in the further door opening movement.

4. In a cabinet of the character described, a housing having an opening, a door hinged at its lower end on said housing to close said opening, an open top receptacle slidably mounted on the inner side of said door for up and down movement, spring means connected with said housing on one side and on the other side with one end of a flexible element, which has its other end portion extending downwardly over a guide on the inner side of the door and secured at its extremity to a portion of said receptacle so as to utilize the spring means and flexible element together to urge the door normally toward closed position, said flexible element being also utilizable by itself for raising the receptacle relative to the door, and means providing a lost motion connection between said housing and said flexible element, so that said receptacle is raised positively in a certain portion of the door opening movement after the door reaches a certain angularity relative to the housing.

5. In a cabinet of the character described, a housing having an opening, a door hinged at its lower end on said housing to close said opening, an open top receptacle slidably mounted on the inner side of said door for up and down movement, and means for automatically raising and lowering said receptacle in the opening and closing of the door, respectively, said means comprising a flexible element secured at one end to a portion of said receptacle and extending upwardly over a guide on the inner side of the door, said element extending inwardly from said guide through an eye fixed in the housing, and a coiled spring that is large in diameter in relation tothe opening in said eye and has its one end connected to the adjacent end of said flexible element behind said eye, said spring being arranged to be loaded in the door opening movement by means of said flexible element, whereby to assist in the door closing movement, said flexible element when no longer movable with said spring in the loading thereof in the opening of the door causing delayed raising of the receptacle.

6. In a cabinet of the character described, a housing having an opening, a door hinged at its lower end on said housing to close said opening, an open top receptacle slidably mounted on the inner side of said door for up and down movement, a flexible element secured at one end to a portion of said receptacle and extending upwardly over a guide on the inner side of the door, said element References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lockerbie Feb. 17, 1925 Pieper Oct. 28, 1941 

